Tsunami threat recedes from huge volcanic eruption in the Pacific Ocean

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) – The threat of a tsunami around the Pacific Ocean from a massive undersea volcanic eruption began to recede on Sunday, while the extent of damage to Tonga remained unclear.

Satellite images showed the astonishing explosion that occurred on Saturday evening, with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising like mushrooms over the blue Pacific waters. A thundering thud could be heard as far away as Alaska.

In neighboring Tonga, it caused a tsunami that crashed across the beach and people rushed to the higher ground.

The eruption cut off the internet for Tonga, leaving friends and family members around the world still anxiously trying to reach out to see if there were any casualties and the extent of the damage. Even government websites and other official sources remained without updates.

Aid agencies said thick ash and smoke were still affecting Tonga’s air and water, and authorities were asking people to wear masks and drink bottled water.

It was unusual for a volcanic eruption to affect an entire ocean basin, and the scene was “humble and frightening,” said Dave Snyder, tsunami warning coordinator at the National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska.

The tsunami caused damage to boats as far away as New Zealand and Santa Cruz, California, but did not appear to cause any widespread damage. Snyder said he expects the tsunami situation to continue to improve in the United States and elsewhere.

Tsunami warnings were issued earlier for Japan, Hawaii, Alaska and the US Pacific coast. The US Geological Survey estimated that the eruption caused the equivalent of a 5.8-magnitude earthquake. Scientists have said that tsunamis generated by volcanoes rather than earthquakes are relatively rare.

Tonga’s meteorological services said a tsunami warning had been issued for all of the archipelago, and data from the Pacific Tsunami Center said waves of 80 centimeters (2.7 feet) were detected.

Rachel Afiki Taumoibo, who chairs the New Zealand Tonga Business Council, said she hopes the relatively low level of the tsunami will allow most people to reach safety, although she is concerned about those who live on the islands closest to the volcano. She said she has not yet been able to contact her friends and family in Tonga.

“We pray to God that only infrastructure is damaged and that people will be able to reach the higher ground,” she said.

Tonga gets its internet via an undersea cable from Suva, Fiji, which is presumably damaged. All internet connection with Tonga was cut off at about 6:40 pm local time, said Doug Madhuri, director of internet analysis at network intelligence firm Kintech.

Fiji-based news website Business Islands news reported that a convoy of police and military forces evacuated Tonga King Tubu VI from his palace near the shore. He was among the many residents who headed to higher regions.

In Tonga, which is home to about 105,000 people, a video posted on social media showed big waves washing the beach in coastal areas and swirling around houses, a church and other buildings.

The New Zealand military said it was monitoring the situation and remained on alert and ready to assist if requested.

In Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported waves measuring half a meter (1.6 feet) in Nawiliweli and Kauai and 80 centimeters (2.7 feet) in Hanalei.

In Tonga, a Twitter user known as Dr. Vakailwatonga Taumuvulao posted a video showing waves crashing on the beach.

“The eruption can be heard literally, it sounds very violent,” he wrote, adding in a later post: “It rains ash and small pebbles, darkness covers the sky.”

The eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano was the latest in a series of dramatic eruptions.

Earth imaging company Planet Labs has been monitoring the island in recent days after a new volcanic eruption there began to emerge in late December.

Satellite images captured by the company show how the volcano has radically shaped the area, creating a growing island off Tonga.

“The island’s surface area appears to have expanded by about 45% due to Ashfall,” Planet Labs said days before the latest activity.

After the volcano erupted on Saturday, Snyder said residents in Hawaii, Alaska and along the US Pacific coast were advised to move away from the coast to higher ground and heed specific instructions from local emergency management officials.

“We don’t issue a warning to this shoreline like we did – I’m not sure last time – but it’s really not an everyday experience,” Snyder said.

Savannah Peterson watched in shock as water rose several feet within minutes in front of her oceanfront home in Pacifica, California, south of San Francisco.

“I showed up very quickly, and after a few minutes I fell again. It was crazy to see it happen so fast,” she said. “I never got water all the way to my door, and today it happened.”

Police have rescued a surfer who broke off a surfboard in strong waves off San Francisco.

Farther south in Santa Cruz, California, officials were assessing the damage to boats and inundating low-lying streets and parking lots, keeping cars afloat.

In southern California, rushing waters sank at least one boat in the port of Ventura northwest of Los Angeles.

New Zealand’s private forecaster, Weather Watch, wrote on Twitter that people as far away as Southland, the country’s southernmost, reported hearing a screeching sound from the explosion. Others reported that several boats were damaged by the tsunami that hit a marina in Whangarei, Northland.

Earlier, Matangi Tonga news website reported that scientists noticed massive explosions, thunder and lightning near the volcano after its eruption began early Friday. Satellite imagery showed a 5-kilometre (3-mile) wide plume rising into the air about 20 kilometers (12 miles).

Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano is located about 64 kilometers (40 miles) north of the capital, Nuku’alofa. In late 2014 and early 2015, a series of eruptions in the area created a new small island and disrupted international air travel to the Pacific archipelago for several days.

There isn’t much difference between underwater and on land volcanoes, said Hans Schweiger, a research geophysicist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory, and underwater volcanoes increase with their eruptions, and usually break through the surface at some point.

With volcanoes underwater, Schweiger added, water can intensify a volcanic eruption when lava hits.

Before an eruption, Schweiger said, there is a general increase in small, local earthquakes at the volcano, but depending on how far from the ground they are, they may not be felt by residents along the shoreline.

In 2019, Tonga lost access to the internet for nearly two weeks when the fiber-optic cable was cut. The manager of the local cable company said at the time that a large ship might have cut the cable by pulling an anchor. Until limited access to satellites was restored, people could not even make international calls.

Satellite communications are limited between Tonga and other parts of the world, said Veverka of Southern Cross Cable Network, but he doesn’t know if it will be affected by the blackouts.

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Associated Press writers Jennifer McDermott in Providence, Rhode Island, Martha Mendoza in Santa Cruz, California, Frank Bajak in Boston, Mary Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Philly Sagabolotelli in Pago Pago, American Samoa, John Gambrill in Dubai, UAE, and Christopher Webber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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